Heaped on Christ

Cyril of Alexandria, Pastor and Confessor

27 June 2022

Some years ago while doing door-to-door evangelism, I met a woman who claimed that she hadn't sinned in the previous two years. To my Lutheran ears such a claim itself seemed to be a sin: the sin of pride. However, I had the wisdom (or the cowardice) to keep my opinion to myself. This woman's self-view contradicted Scripture. St. John puts this claim to moral purity to flight in 1 John 1:8, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Note we remain sinners. John includes himself with his readers. Christians remain sinners. This is why the church constantly prays, "Forgive us our trespasses."

The church is not made up of holy folks, but of sinners to whom God imputes the righteousness of Christ and to whom He does not impute their sin for Christ's sake. True humility confesses that we remain sinners at the same time that God counts us righteous for Christ's sake. So we Christians will never (can never) live without the mercy of God. We will never get above or beyond the need to live in the radical forgiveness of a God so desperate to forgive us that He heaps our sins on Christ, His only Son, our Lord.

Martin Luther

"A Christian is righteous and a sinner at the same time, holy and profane, an enemy of God and a child of God. None of the [worldly wise] will admit this paradox, because they do not understand the true meaning of justification. This was why they forced men to go on doing good works until they would not feel any sin at all. By this means they drove to the point of insanity many who tried with all their might to become completely righteous in a formal sense but could not accomplish it. And innumerable persons even among the authors of this wicked dogma were driven into despair at the hour of death, which is what would have happened to me if Christ had not looked at me in mercy and liberated me from this error.

"We, on the other hand, teach and comfort an afflicted sinner this way: 'Brother, it is impossible for you to become so righteous in this life that your body is as clear and spotless as the sun. You still have spots and wrinkles (Eph 5:27), and yet you are holy.' But you say: 'How can I be holy when I have sin and am aware of it?' 'That you feel and acknowledge sin—this is good. Thank God, and do not despair. It is one step toward health when a sick person admits and confesses his disease.' 'But how will I be liberated from sin?' 'Run to Christ, the Physician, who heals the contrite of heart and saves sinners. Believe in Him. If you believe, you are righteous, because you attribute to God the glory of being almighty, merciful, truthful, etc. You justify and praise God. In short, you attribute divinity and everything to Him. And the sin that still remains in you is not imputed but is forgiven for the sake of Christ, in whom you believe and who is perfectly righteous in a formal sense. His righteousness is yours; your sin is His.'" 

Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians, 3.6